Satellite Imagery to Support Vanuatu's Electoral Project
UNOSAT supported UNDP with geospatial analysis for the validation of civil and electoral registries in Vanuatu.
The project
The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) is assisting the Republic of Vanuatu in the planning and implementation of democratic elections through the Vanuatu Electoral Environment Project (VEEP). In the planning phase, VEEP needed support from the United Nations Satellite Centre (UNOSAT) to identify housing buildings throughout the 83 islands. Thanks to the satellite imagery analysis, the team was able to identify localities with missing or inconsistent data and plan field activities accordingly. The robust datasets created are now being used beyond the scope of the project.
Context
In 2017, Vanuatu’s national authorities decided to introduce a national ID card, making Vanuatu one of the first countries in the Pacific to do so. The government also decided to link the civil and voter registration databases to increase the integrity and accuracy of the voter register. This also allows in the long run to enhance synergy between the various databases used by different government agencies. The Vanuatu Electoral Environment Project (VEEP), an initiative of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Pacific Office in Fiji, provides technical support to the Civil Registry and Vital Statistics department (CRVS) and the Vanuatu Electoral Office (VEO) for their nationwide registration effort.
To review the potential uses of Geospatial Information Technology (GIT) tools in the Civil and Voter Registries validation, the UNDP Crisis Bureau, in coordination with UNOSAT, supported the UNDP VEEP team. Very High Resolution (VHR) satellite images were analysed to provide baseline data, which was used for civil and electoral registration process. UNOSAT also gathered several sets of geographic and demographic data to produce several maps in the form of atlases, static and webmaps to aid field works during voter registry verificaton and validation process.
“Vanuatu’s various institutions do not have a joined geo data base, so between villages, islands, provinces, electoral districts and constituencies, the demarcation of boundaries can show some inconsistencies. These maps will be crucial in the identification of villages and households as well as wider demarcation of boundaries work” – Anne-Sofie Gerhard, Technical Adviser & Project Manager, UNDP/VEEP
Satellite Imagery Analysis
UNOSAT provided assistance in mapping and geolocated voter residences using very-high-resolution (VHR) satellite imagery. Several small-scale and detailed atlas maps visualising physical locations of potential households across the islands were provided to UNDP prior to field works. This was a vital first step in identifying where potential voter residence, especially within small rural communities that were located further away from main town centres.
Satellite based analysis provides essential services to many fields, especially when it's difficult for ground teams to survey large areas, this was the case in Vanuatu. VHR satellite imagery allowed the geospatial analysts to see and identify possible areas where residents live, across all islands in Vanuatu, no matter the terrain. To send ground teams in to survey the same thing would be very time consuming, costly, resource-heavy and dangerous as not all locations may be easily accessible. Satellite imagery analysis provides an effective solution to this, while also providing visual map outputs and GPS coordinates for ground surveying and verification.
Thousands of buildings over 10,000 km² were mapped, on 83 islands across Vanuatu.
Multiple-page atlases for each Island were created and used to find, locate and verify the resident registry on the ground. In areas that had been identified but were not enrolled in the voter system, teams visited the communities to register voters and provide them information on upcoming elections. This helped to improve the number of registered voters across the country and residents participating in elections.
One atlas page representing one grid on the map on right
Images from UNDP of ground staff doing digital registration of residents in the field
Impact
Thanks to this initiative, Vanuatu has implemented a new electoral management system while simultaneously creating a new digital civil registry, drastically improving the access and management of information on the voting population. On the other hand, for the first time, citizens have a legal identity and a National ID card. With this, they can vote, obtain critical government services and be located in case of natural disasters.
Provincial elections, May 2021
On 12 May 2021, Vanuatu held four Provincial Government Council elections in four of six provinces including Penama, Malampa, Shefa and Tafea. Overall the elections took place under peaceful conditions and voter turn-out seemed to be higher than in previous elections: over 170,000 voters had been registered in 2021, in comparison to 120,000 in 2017. There is not enough information to quantify the changes in these elections as compared with previous ones. However, data was compiled and integrated into a Provincial Election 2021 Results Dashboard to present basic facts and figures found during the 2021 Provincial Elections and provide an overall picture of the voter turnout and results.
Voter turnout of total registered voters in the four Provincial Elections was 46%. A total of 83,059 votes were cast in the 223 polling stations across the 4 provinces.
Constituency Breakdown
Each Province has been broken down per Constituency. Click on each Island or Constituency to see the total breakdown of voters from the 2021 Provincial Election. The map legend shows Constituencies with a higher voter percentage in darker colours.
Distance to polling station - Shefa
Satellite imagery analysis provided key information on potential voters residence which can be used for future elections planning and implementation. For example after voter registry locations were analysed, it was important to see how far voters have to travel to cast their vote and if new or temporary polling stations are needed to reduce travel distance and increase participation. On this map, a few residence buildings are located in between 10 and 12 km from the closest polling station. You can use the navigation tools to zoom and pan different areas of the map, click the different distances to see access.
Distance from voter residence to polling station in Malampa and Shefa Province.
You can also find information on the population count and distance to voting station on the accessibility and voting landscape webmap .
Beyond the civil and electoral registries
The innovative collaboration between UNDP and UNOSAT resulted in the creation of robust and much-needed datasets that are already being used beyond the scope of this project. The combination of the biometric national ID card linked with the georeferenced data represents valuable information with cross-sectoral potential applications. The maps are already being used by multiple stakeholders for disaster prepardness and response, and several governmental planning operations such as the COVID-19 vaccination campaign.
"Our combined strategy has seen innovation and change emerge from disaster and turned reactiveness in Vanuatu into proactiveness – truly changing a risk into opportunity and a positive outcome." – Anne-Sofie Gerhard, Technical Adviser & Project Manager, UNDP/VEEP
This project contributes to SDG 16: Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions.
UNOSAT20 - Testimony by Anne-Sofie Gerhard, UNDP VEEP
